Gypsumville

History

The community was named Gypsumville after a post office with a same name was opened in 1905. The office was named after the gypsum deposits found in the area. Deposits were discovered in 1888 and by 1890 mining operations begun. A shortline railway was built from Gypsumville to the shore of Lake Manitoba, where the gypsum was transloaded on to barges and shipped to a railhead on the Whitemud River at south end of the lake, near the present community of Westbourne. In 1912, the Canadian Northern Railway, which later became part of Canadian National Railway, built a rail line in to Gypsumville along the CN Oak Point subdivision. Both of the railway lines are now abandoned with CN closing their line in 1992.